L7 play tonight at The Slowdown.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

L7’s latest, Scatter the Rats (2019, Blackheart Records), is pure ’90s grunge, but in my mind L7 always has been tied to grunge despite hailing from LA instead of the PNW and having been around since ’85.

This new album is about as embraceable as L7 gets, though I can’t imagine there’ll be anyone in the crowd at The Slowdown tonight under the age of 30. All the oldsters will have their fists in the air singing along to “Shitlist” or “Pretend We’re Dead” or anything else off ’92’s Bricks Are Heavy, probably their biggest selling album, which was everywhere at the time.

The band was trailblazing back in their day — an all-female grunge band following in the footsteps of acts like Joan Jett and the Runaways. In my book, they’re more bad-ass than any sausage party act from the same era; certainly tougher than Hole. Frontwoman Donita Sparks is 56 and still looks and sounds like she’d kick your ass (mine, yours, anyone’s).

BTW, their latest single, “Dispatch from Mar-a-Lago,” is about as good as it gets. Co-written by Sparks and guitarist Suzi Gardner, the track imagines Trump tweeting with the barbarians at the White House gates. The song’s second verse:

S.O.S. from a golden throne
Mogul’s in deep shit, he’s all alone
It’s not good, a riot in fact
The whole friggin’ country club is under attack

Let’s hope they play this one tonight… “Stormin’ the gates!”

Opening act LA garage act Le Butcherettes has only been around since 2007, and should satisfy L7 fans with their fuzz-powered rock, fronted by Teri Gender Bender. Show starts at 8 p.m., $25.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.